How often these injuries happen
OSHA recorded 728 severe incidents involving overexertion during manual material handling over the last decade. These events frequently result in traumatic injuries and hernias, which often require surgery and extensive recovery periods.
The physical toll of these injuries is concentrated in the back and abdominal regions. You may experience long-term musculoskeletal damage that prevents you from returning to your previous roles, highlighting the severity of these preventable events.
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Overexertion injuries typically occur when you handle nonpressurized containers or heavy equipment without adequate mechanical assistance. These incidents often happen during routine tasks like loading trailers, emptying trash, or moving supplies, where a single awkward lift or sudden shift in weight causes immediate physical trauma.
| Injury Type | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Traumatic injuries or exposures— unspecified | 218 |
| 2 | Hernias | 165 |
| 3 | Sprains, strains, tears | 130 |
| 4 | Dislocations | 61 |
| 5 | Soft tissue injuries— unspecified | 36 |
| 6 | Fractures | 33 |
| 7 | Injuries to internal organs and major blood vessels | 25 |
| 8 | Ischemic heart disease, including heart attack | 10 |
Where injuries happen most
Manufacturing accounts for 21% of these severe overexertion cases, as the high volume of manual material handling creates constant exposure to strain. Health care and transportation sectors also show elevated risk levels, where the frequent need to move heavy items or assist patients places significant, repetitive stress on your musculoskeletal system.
Real cases like yours
Common patterns in these reports involve you suffering sudden, sharp pain while lifting heavy boxes, bags, or equipment. These incidents often occur when containers break, loads shift unexpectedly, or you are forced to handle items beyond your physical capacity without proper support. If these scenarios mirror your own experience, an attorney can help you review the specifics of your incident.
| Year | State | Industry | Incident summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | FL | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was delivering a box to a customer. They assisted the customer with moving the box containing a playground apparatus when the box broke open, causing the employee to lose their grip and strain their lower back." | |
| 2025 | MA | Construction | "An employee was assisting with loading bags of cellulose into the cellulose trailer. He experienced a sharp pain in his lower back while lifting a bag. His legs went numb and he collapsed, unable to move. The employee was hospitalized with a back injury." | |
| 2025 | NC | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee reached into a hamper, picked up a package, and was hospitalized with a back injury that caused pain in his lower extremities." | |
| 2025 | IL | Retail Trade | "On July 9, 2025, an employee was emptying trash and lifting a heavy trash bag when he felt a pop and experienced severe pain. The employee was hospitalized with a ruptured hernia and required surgery." | |
| 2025 | OH | Transportation & Warehousing | "An employee was lifting a toilet from a pallet and suffered a lower back injury. The employee was hospitalized. " | |
| 2025 | NH | Accommodation & Food Services | "An employee was lifting a frying basket out of a fryer when they felt a pop in their back. The employee was hospitalized with a herniated disc." | |
| 2025 | VA | Professional Services | "An employee lifted a gearbox from one shipping container to another. The employee sustained a ruptured hernia and required surgery." | |
| 2025 | FL | Retail Trade | "An employee was lifting a 24 x 48" tile. The employee bent down to check the pallet tag (dye lot) and felt pain in their back and shoulder. The employee was hospitalized." | |
| 2025 | OH | Manufacturing | "An employee was manually lifting a 2-inch roll of paper weighing 58 pounds onto the line when they suffered a lower back injury. The employee was hospitalized. " | |
| 2025 | NY | Health Care | "An employee was moving furniture when they suffered a strained back, resulting in hospitalization." |
Source: OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Narratives are verbatim from filings; identifying details may have been redacted by OSHA.